A pet dog is thought to have caused a house fire by switching on the toaster, leaving the family cat unconscious.

Firefighters believe Herbie accidentally turned on the appliance at his home in Brooke Avenue, Margate.

It happened when he jumped up on the worktop in the kitchen and the item overheated.

But the family’s smoke alarms alerted the 12-year-old boy who was in the house at the time, allowing him to quickly get outside safely with Herbie and call the fire service.

Firefighters discovered Mush the cat between two pillows and used a pet oxygen mask to successfully resuscitate her.

Two fire engines attended and crews, wearing breathing apparatus, used hose reel jets to extinguish the flames.

The KFRS (Kent Fire and Rescue Service) volunteer response team attended to support the family and help arrange alternative temporary accommodation.

The kitchen was destroyed and other parts of the property were damaged by heat and smoke.

The family afterwards thanked the fire service and said how proud they were of the quick-thinking actions of their son, who has not been named.

They said: “He reacted so quickly to the smoke alarms and knew that he had to get out of the house and was able to get Herbie out too.

“We didn’t realise that Herbie jumping up could result in so much damage and that pets could accidentally start fires this way. So we want to share what has happened to raise awareness.”

Suzanna Chisholm, KFRS area manager for customer safety, said: “The swift actions of this young man undoubtedly made a huge difference to the outcome of this incident, saving his pets and preventing further damage to his home. It goes to show how important working smoke alarms are.”

The incident was on October 16 and KFRS says in the last three years it has responded to 28 kitchen blazes when the cause has been linked to a pet.

Ms Chisholm added: “You don’t necessarily expect a dog to be able to start a kitchen fire – but it can and does happen.

“To help reduce the chance of electrical fires we advise everyone to switch off and unplug electrical items when not in use, which will also prevent pets, or children, from accidentally turning them on.

“People can also close their kitchen door when not in the room, if they have one, to make sure pets don’t jump up and knock switches, like cooker knobs.”